Shaheen Air International () was a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

Pakistani airline with its head office at

Jinnah International Airport Jinnah International Airport () , formerly Drigh Road Airport or Karachi International Airport, is Pakistan's busiest international and domestic airport, and handled 7,267,582 passengers in 2017–2018. Located in Karachi, the largest city a ...

Karachi Karachi is the capital city of the Administrative units of Pakistan, province of Sindh, Pakistan. It is the List of cities in Pakistan by population, largest city in Pakistan and 12th List of largest cities, largest in the world, with a popul ...

and was founded by the Shah family. It remained Pakistan's second-largest airline until its liquidation in 2018 due to financial troubles. The airline owed billion to Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan (CAA) and its employees salaries. It provided passenger, cargo and charter services, to major cities in Pakistan and the

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

. It suspended all operations in October 2018.

History

Shaheen Air International was founded in 1993 by Shaheen Foundation. Shaheen Air Cargo was a division of Shaheen Air International that was established in 1993, soon after the inception of the airline. Shaheen Air provided special services for sending small time-sensitive consignments. The airline's early operations were fraught with difficulties, exacerbated by a 50 percent fare discount for retired and serving

military officer An officer is a person who holds a position of authority as a member of an armed force or uniformed service. Broadly speaking, "officer" means a commissioned officer, a non-commissioned officer (NCO), or a warrant officer. However, absent c ...

s and high operating costs due to a limited number of aircraft on wet lease. The airline faced financial challenges, losing Rs 60 million between December 1999 and May 2000, in addition to owing Rs 70 million to the Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan for services during the same period. On 22 May 2004, the Civil Aviation Authority of Pakistan (CAA) grounded Shaheen Air as the airline owed it millions of rupees. Three days later the airline was cleared by the CAA to resume its domestic and international operations. The clearance letter was issued by CAA following receipt of a payment from Shaheen Air International towards the outstanding dues and funds. The same year, Shaheen Air International (SAI) became Shaheen Air and the airline introduced a new livery and corporate website. Shaheen Air started its own maintenance repair organization (MRO) by the name of ''Shaheen Engineering and Aircraft Maintenance Services'' (SEAMS) to provide maintenance services to Shaheen Air as well as other regional and international airlines. In its international operations, Shaheen Air operated between Pakistan and numerous destinations in the

. Shaheen Air once started flight operations to Riyadh with three different routes from Pakistan. Shaheen Air was Pakistan's second-largest airline next to the flag carrier,

Pakistan International Airlines Pakistan International Airlines, commonly known as PIA, is the flag carrier of Pakistan. With its primary hub at Jinnah International Airport in Karachi, the airline also operates from its secondary hubs at Allama Iqbal International Airport ...

but due to the downturn in 2018, the airline declined. The airline was declared a defaulter by PCAA and FBR. In October 2018, SAI flight operations were completely suspended by the local regularity body PCAA and the airline declared a financial defaulter. Since November 2018, all SAI offices have closed.

Investor Rumor and Liquidation

Shaheen reported an un-named investor from Saudi Arabia was to help the airline return to service from January 2019. Even after repeated protests by the 5,000 employees, who were still owed months of wages, as of February 2019 no investigation into the matter had been initiated by any of the agencies, including the

Federal Board of Revenue The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) (), formerly known as Central Board of Revenue (CBR), is a federal law enforcement agency of Pakistan that investigates tax crimes, suspicious accumulation of wealth, money-laundering make regulation of collec ...

Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority Pakistan Civil Aviation Authority (PCAA) () is a state-owned autonomous body under the administrative control of the Secretary to the Government of Pakistan for Aviation, which oversees and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in Pakistan. ...

and the Federal Ministry of Aviation.

Destinations

Shaheen Air operated the following services as of July 2018. All of their routes were suspended in October 2018. In January 2019, they announced they would not resume business.

Fleet

Two Airbus A320-200 remain in storage. The rest of the aircraft were leased and were returned to the lessors after the airline ceased operations. Pakistani law requires a passenger airline to have a minimum of three aircraft in its fleet, and Shaheen's fleet of two stored aircraft does not fulfil the mandatory requirement of the license to operate. Many of the old derelict planes of Shaheen Air are abandoned at

. On 26 January 2020, one of these planes, a

Boeing 737-200 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retained the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating ...

, registered as AP-BIS, was destroyed by fire. 2 Ex Shaheen Air A330s are operated by SereneAir.

Former fleet

Boeing 737-400 The Boeing 737 Classic is a series of narrow-body airliners produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes, the second generation of the Boeing 737 series of aircraft. Development began in 1979 and the first variant, the 737-300, first flew in Febru ...

Boeing 737-800 The Boeing 737 Next Generation, commonly abbreviated as 737NG, or 737 Next Gen, is a twinjet, twin-engine narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Launched in 1993 as the third-generation derivative of the Boeing 737, it ha ...

* Boeing 767-200ER * Airbus A300B4-203 *

Airbus A319-100 The Airbus A319 is a member of the Airbus A320 family of short- to medium-range, narrow-body, commercial passenger twin-engine jet airliners manufactured by Airbus. The A319 carries 124 to 156 passengers and has a maximum range of . Final assem ...

Airbus A320-200 The Airbus A320 family is a series of narrow-body airliners developed and produced by Airbus. The A320 was launched in March 1984, Maiden flight, first flew on 22 February 1987, and was introduced in April 1988 by Air France. The first membe ...

Airbus A330-200 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body airliner developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus began developing larger A300 derivatives in the mid–1970s, giving rise to the A330 twinjet as well as the Airbus A340 quadjet, and launched both designs alon ...

Airbus A330-300 The Airbus A330 is a wide-body airliner developed and produced by Airbus. Airbus began developing larger A300 derivatives in the mid–1970s, giving rise to the A330 twinjet as well as the Airbus A340 quadjet, and launched both designs along ...

* Tupolev Tu-154M * Yakovlev Yak-42D *

Boeing 747-200 The Boeing 747 is a long-range wide-body airliner designed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes in the United States between 1968 and 2023. After the introduction of the 707 in October 1958, Pan Am wanted a jet times its size, ...

Accidents and incidents

*22 April 2012 - the main landing gear of a

operating as Flight 122 from Islamabad to Karachi collapsed during its landing at Karachi. No injuries were reported among the 122 passengers and 6 crew on board. *24 September 2015 - a Boeing 737-400 registered AP-BJR and operating as Flight 791 took off from a

taxiway A taxiway is a path for aircraft at an airport connecting runways with Airport apron, aprons, hangars, Airport terminal, terminals and other facilities. They mostly have a hard surface such as Asphalt concrete, asphalt or concrete, although sma ...

instead of the runway while departing from Sharjah. The aircraft was undamaged in the incident. *23 November 2015 - A Boeing 737-400 registration AP-BJO, operating as Flight 142, collapsed during a botched and mishandled landing. There were 112 passengers and 7 crew members on board; 10 passengers were injured. The cause of the accident was due to the captain being intoxicated and under the influence of alcohol. *26 January 2020 - a

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is an American narrow-body aircraft, narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Boeing Renton Factory, Renton factory in Washington (state), Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the t ...

-200 registration AP-BIS, was destroyed by fire, the incident occurred at Karachi

, Pakistan.

References

External links

Official website
{{Airlines of Pakistan Defunct airlines of Pakistan Airlines established in 1993 Airlines disestablished in 2018 Pakistani companies established in 1993 Pakistani companies disestablished in 2018